NAACP and National Urban League
Poole
There were two national organizations that I belonged to. I was a director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
That was after Thurgood Marshall had left the position of counsel. He was the head of that. In the Lyndon Johnson era, Lyndon
Johnson appointed Marshall as solicitor general and then appointed him to the Supreme Court. He was succeeded by a fellow
named Jack Greenberg. It was at that time I became one of the directors of the Legal Defense and Education Fund. So we had
a great many interests in a great many places.
Also, I became one of the national trustees of the National Urban League. I was on that for six years.
Hicke
Can you give me some sample of your activities in those two groups?
Poole
The Legal Defense Fund had a very good working structure. Their component supporters were lawyers. They had affiliate lawyers
in many places in the country. Well, you remember, it was that organization specifically that was engaged in the Brown v. Board of Education case that was decided in May 1954. They had a whole lot of not nearly so well known cases, but all over the South they were
challenging the schools and the universities and reviewing
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the situations where they have a guy in a university class and he's sitting behind a big pillar, and that sort of thing.
Hicke
And they were challenging them in court?
Poole
Oh, yes. They were in court all the way.
Hicke
What were some of your problems?
Poole
I was a member of the board and one of their advisors, and they looked to us for input on both local as well as national things
that we thought it was appropriate for them to become interested in.
Hicke
So a problem would come along and they would ask you whether they should go ahead with it?
Poole
Yes. We were the Board of Directors. There was a director, but we were the Board of Directors. We were dealing with professionals,
so we took their judgment on a lot of things. It was quite interesting. They had scores of lawsuits going, and, of course,
you'd often get to a place where you had to make some priority assessment. They always needed money, and lawsuits took a lot
of money. They were affiliated with certain lawyers in certain places in California. Those people were like regional directors.
And then there was also the NAACP. The Legal Defense Fund was established by the NAACP.
Hicke
Then it's kind of a separate entity?
Poole
Not at first. At first, it was the litigating part of the association. But then when they were passing the laws on nonprofit
activities, then you had to be strictly nonprofit, and that wasn't a difficulty, but you had to keep the nonprofit records
to qualify, and so it was determined that it was in the best interests of both the NAACP and of the Legal Defense Fund, which
by that time was the tail wagging the dog almost, that they separate. The oldtimers on the NAACP believed that in doing so,
there wouldn't be a whole lot of difference, but they didn't know Thurgood Marshall. They didn't know him well. There was
a lot of anger. Gradually and eventually, it cut itself separate completely. That was an occasion of some bad feeling when
that happened. There was always some question of whose side you are on.
When Charlotte, my wife, had gotten out of college, I think I told you, she had come to Pittsburgh and that's where we met;
she was a newspaper woman, but she left and she went to New York and became the director of information of the NAACP. So I
had strong
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ties, in fact I knew them all from the years before. When I later on opted to become a director of Legal Defense Fund, there
was some murmuring, but it was the right place for me, and I did enjoy it. I was still a member of the Legal Defense Fund
until I became a judge, then I had to get off of it.
Hicke
What about the Urban League?
Poole
I was a trustee of the Urban League, a national trustee of the Urban League, and I guess I was on the Urban League from 1969
until 1976—it could have been '75. When I became a judge, of course, I had to get off all of these things which had litigation
components, and I knew that, and I did that. I was director of a couple of companies in addition to Levi Strauss.
Hicke
Which ones were those?
Poole
One was a firm that built fabricated housing, and I was also a director of the Redwood League of California. I enjoyed that
because those people love trees like nothing else. I used to enjoy that very much, but they were always in court. So I had
to resign from the Redwood League also.